Today, McCain blew it.  Big time.  Now I know there's about 18 million diaries about this and we're collectively having a giant orange satan collective moment of Schadenfreude.  So let me take a moment to look at another element of this that I haven't seen discussed yet.

Shocked aren't you!?  Yes, I'm saying something dramatic, controversial, and perhaps even dangerous.  You should be stunned that this diary would even appear here at DailyKos.  Outraged even!  Follow me after the jump and find out more about my shocking statements!

I'm an amateur photographer and I routinely wander around Chicago taking photos of whatever catches my attention.  While walking around this weekend, I believe I captured a perfect metaphor for our economy.

For those of you who don't know me, I helped to organize the YearlyKos Convention for two years.  Specifically I was involved in managing the registration for the convention.  I was less involved the first year, but the second year, I was one of the core members of the group, helping to plan it, and managing the registration.

Last year, mostly because it was a LOT of work to do part time, I decided to leave the organization.  I won't be attending the Netroots Nation event this year, as I do not have the vacation time or money for it.  I've been following what's going on in the lead up and hope to be hearing about all of the great things going on.  

With that background, I'd like to get into a larger discussion related to an article I stumbled across that offended me a bit.  I think, in seeing this I recognized something important about the progressive movement and I wanted to share it.

I was very pleased to note the dramatic difference between the tax plans of Obama and McCain.  It seems that most people will do a lot better under Obama's plan, and only the highest income brackets will end up paying more.  I know some were concerned that he might defined "wealthy" too low, but it seems not.  

Having said that, I am deeply disappointed in both plans for one reason:

THE DEFICIT

It seems likely that if Obama wins in November, one of the issues he'll want to address is the prisoners being held at Guantanamo Bay.  It seems to me that there are few better ways for Obama to demonstrate a break with the past than shutting down this prison shortly after becoming president.

Given that, closing down the prison, though a noble goal, is a bit complicated.  So I wanted to start a discussion here of the issues that he faces, and see what solutions might exist.

I've seen a lot of analysis that talks about Hillary's appeal in Appalachia, or more to the point, Obama's distinct lack of appeal there.  Related to this there's a bit of history.  It seems that, shortly after emancipation, former slaves were brought in by coal mining companies as scabs to break the hold of unions.  This, quite logically, created a lot of racial tension in these areas.  

The theory is that Hillary has won by large margins in Appalachia due to lingering racism, and I found some really stark visual evidence to back that conclusion.  Check it out after the jump.

A few days ago I analyzed the delegate totals and concluded that under all scenarios, Obama is the winner at this point.  Even a landslide loss by Obama in Puerto Rico wouldn't save Hillary's bacon.  Including the delegates from Florida and Michigan under the most generous pro-Clinton scenario doesn't help her either.  The truth is though, the Clinton campaign is no longer play for a delegate win.  

Their current plan is to claim a victory in the popular vote, then fight this to the floor of the convention.  They will use the threat of sundering party unity to twist the arms of super delegates into backing Obama.  Read on to see how this plays out.

So the Clinton campaign has come out with their fund raising figures for April.  The grand total: $22 million.  Now, step into the way back machine for a moment, to April 23rd, the day after the Pennsylvania primary:

Hillary Clinton has scored another double-digit victory of sorts—this one related to cash flow rather than votes.

The Clinton campaign reports that is has raised $10 million in the 24 hours since winning the Pennsylvania primary.

So, almost half of their total for the month was raised in one 24 hour period?  Funny, but I'm not buying it.

I've noticed a trend in the arguments many folks here, and on the left generally, have been making about the costs of government programs.  The argument goes something like this:

We should have this new program.  Sure, it will cost X dollars, but we spend that amount in Iraq in Y days.

So, for example, the new G.I. Bill would cost about $5 billion/year to implement.  Now while $5 billion in a year is nothing compared to the $100+ billion we're dumping in Iraq every year, there is a small catch:

WE CANNOT AFFORD EITHER OF THEM

I'm sure this will be diary number 8,440,202 tonight about the primary results.  I'm not sure how insightful this will be, but after listening to hours of pundit gas bags talk about this race in terms of momentum, I'm ready to scream.  So I'll keep this simple.

THERE IS NO MOMENTUM!  
IT IS ALL ABOUT HOW THE PRIMARIES WERE SCHEDULED!

Obama isn't losing anything and Hillary isn't gaining anything.  On day one of this campaign, barring a major flub, Hillary was going to win Pennsylvania.  On day one she was going to win Ohio, and Texas.  What we are seeing here has NOTHING to do with the campaigns and has everything to do with the scheduling.

I know there's a temptation to pile on Hillary, find every little thing that's wrong, and try to twist her arm into finally getting out of this race.  I've had my share of moments where I was angry with her and vented my spleen over how she could have the gall to be doing what she was doing.  It reached a crescendo for me when she seemed to be comparing Obama favorably to McCain.  Personally though, I'm done with it.

Today I was digging through DailyKos and was reading this post by Jerome a Paris. He goes on to make various points about how Greenspan screwed up, but this quote by Greenspan really struck me as critical to what we're facing:

Those of us who look to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholder equity have to be in a state of shocked disbelief.

To get right to my point, riddle me this batman: what is the self-interest of a lending institution?

If there's one meme deeply in need of smiting this primary season, it's this notion of momentum.  That a candidate, by winning contests, can somehow gather some kind of energy that will help their performance in future primaries and caucuses.  The ONLY thing that matters in terms of momentum is the notion of viability.  A candidate must prove, either through victories, or media spin, that they are in fact a realistic choice for the presidency.

This is going to seem like a Hillary attack diary, and I honestly don't intend it as such.  I am an Obama supporter, so I'm not going to deny some bias at this point in the game, but I try to keep an open mind.  What I would like to know is what are the notable Clinton successes?

Hillary's major campaign theme has been that she has a legacy of experience and success in politics.  She speaks to it going back 35 years.  Okay, fine, what has she done that we should take note of?

I saw this linked off a friend's blog and I had to share it here.  It's basically a birthday party you'd expect for Alex P. Keaton, flipped on it's head.  Skip past the jump for the Nixon Birthday Party.

I wanted to get people's opinions on an issue I'd not considered much previously: astroturfers.  

Specifically, what I'd like to know is what people's feelings are on the use of troll ratings to shut down astroturfing.

I've been really frustrated by the primaries this year because there's been such bitterness and anger coming out on DailyKos.  As we've solidified behind our favored candidates, the passion we normally reserve for Republicans is being turned against ourselves.  In response, I've written a few Kumbaya type diaries, but this is a bit different.

I realized today that there's an important secondary effect of this primary that's hugely important to our country.  To make my point, let me ask you this: can you recall the last time we've had such an open discussion of racism and sexism in our country?